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Neopaganism

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Overview of Neopagan religions

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Introduction:

Just as the term "Eastern religions" refers to Buddhism,
Hinduism, Taoism, etc., the terms "Neo-Pagan"
"Neopagan," and "Pagan" refer to a collection of separate religions that share a few common themes.

The term "Neo-Paganism" was apparently coined by Tim Zell, editor of
The Green Egg, a publication of the Church of all Worlds. 1

A Neopagan religion is a modern faith which has been recently reconstructed from beliefs,
deities, symbols, practices and other elements of
an ancient religion. For example, the Druidic religion is
based on the faith and practices of the ancient Celtic professional class;
followers of Asatru adhere to the ancient,
pre-Christian Norse religion; Wiccans also trace
their roots back to the pre-Celtic era in Europe. Other Neo-pagans follow
Hellenismos (ancient Greek religion), Religio Romana (ancient Roman
religion), Kemetism (ancient Egyptian religion) and other traditions.

Many Wiccans and other Neopagans refer to themselves simply as "Pagans."
Unfortunately, the word has many different meanings --
some quite negative. The term "Neopagan" is less ambiguous.

Confusion and misinformation:

To some Fundamentalist Christians, all religions other than
Judaism
and Christianity are actually varieties of Satanism. To them,
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism, and
the various Neopagan religions are all forms of Satanism, or at least
are led by Satan or his demons.

To almost everyone else, Neopagan religions are simply individual
faith groups with little or no connection to Satanism.

As more Neopagans have come out of the [broom] closet and gone public with
their faith, more non-pagans have realized the benign nature of Neopagan
religious traditions. Opposition by religious conservatives has lessened.

Recognition of Neopagan religions:

Because of the principle of separation of church and state, the U.S.
government does not formally maintain a list of recognized religions. Both
the U.S. and Canada register religious groups as tax-exempt organizations
and grant clergy the right to conduct marriage ceremonies.

However, many
European federal governments have ecclesiastical affairs ministries which do
formally recognize religions. The governments of: Iceland in 1973, Norway in 1996 and
1999, and Denmark in 2003 have officially recognized Neopagan
religions which worship Viking Gods such as Odin and Thor.
2

A neo-pagan hoax?

Daughters of Frya are alleged to be: "...adherents of the Oera Linda...an order of
women who have dedicated themselves to the service of the goddess Frya and her
divine father Wr-alda."

UK Pagan Links quotes the "Daughters of Frya" site:

"The Daughters of Frya are a free
association of women who feel that by practical action we really can make a
difference in the world today. Inspired by our devotion to the goddess Frya,
we work hard to help others and to make our beloved earth a better place to
live. We seek to show the world that Pagans are decent, caring folk who want
to put back a few of the benefits we have received." 3

However, there is a widespread belief that the Daughters
of Freya do not exist. The one item that we found convincing was their list of
requirements for each Daughter: they must perform 1,200 deep knee-bends daily.
One of the ReligiousTolerance.org staff members who is a nurse and a fitness buff
believes that this many repeats would wreck their knees rather quickly.

A posting on Wikipedia stated that "No reliable source
has been offered for the existence..." of the group. 4
This has since disappeared. A
posting at The Cauldron, a Pagan Forum, suggests that the image on the
Daughter's web site is a cropped version of the Green Hope Women's Tennis
Team. 5

Some postings:

Posting 6 by The Boot Knife of Reason:
"Lessee: fake picture, fake book, fake goddess, fake history, clearly
dreamed up by some middle-aged guy with fetishes, and an evangelist who
appears to likewise be a middle-aged guy with fetishes..."

Posting 11 by Storyteller Cat: "... aside from the obvious, the
induction of the tennis team into your organization by default, did you or
your web designer think that no one would notice? If those girls aren't the
new junior Frya worshippers, who is the write up about. Some other group of
girls somewhere? Gotta say way to tackle the 12-19 year old age bracket. No
sex and lots of deep knee bends."

Posting 32 by Syrhed: "If you really do think it's a hoax, then
you must think there's a motive. It can't be financial, so what on earth
could it be?"

Posting 34 by yewberry: "I think you're the solitary
member of this "religion". I think you're a MAN trying to con a few gullible
gals into behaving in a way that fosters your fetish. Either that, or you're
just a slightly-more-exotic-than-garden-variety troll."

The Witches' Voice has two listings for Daughters of Frya: one for college
aged women, 8 and one for
adult women. 9 They list
their location as Malvern, England, and state that they were formed in 1985..

The Daughters of Frya's web site at
http://www.angelfire.com/ was deleted sometime during
2006-JUL. The website was reduced to a single sentence: "Daughters of
Frya are closed." However, as of 2007-AUG, it has been placed online
again.

Our opinion is that the Daughters of Frya group is a hoax.

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Pagan Pride Day:

The Pagan Pride Project (PPP) coordinates celebrations
that are sponsored by local groups in various places throughout North America
and elsewhere in the world. They are held nnually, within two or three weeks of
the Autumn Equinox.

The term "Pagan Pride" was apparently inspired by the Gay Pride
movement. The project was founded by Cecylyna Brightsword (now Cecylyna Dewr).
She proposed celebrations involving a public ritual open to the public, press
releases and public relations activities to encourage a positive portrayal of
Paganism in the media, and a materials drive for a local charity -- typically a
food bank, shelter or refuge.

The first Pagan Pride Day was held on 1998-SEP-19 with 18 celebrations. By
2003, this had grown to over 117 events. Celebrations in 2004 involved over
44,000 people attending Pagan Pride events in six countries. They collected
almost 15 tons of food and almost $10,000 for local charities. 6

Diversity within Neopaganism:

The logo of Pagan Pride Day, shown above in miniature, shows the
diversity of traditions within Neopaganism. Included are the:

Yin/Yang symbol from Daoism -- a philosophy of balanced used by many
Neopagans.

A Celtic Cross

Thor's Hammer, a symbol used by followers of Asatru

The Triple Goddess symbol

They Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol.

Venus of Willendorf, an ancient Goddess symbol

The Ankh -- another Egyptian symbol.

The pentacle.

The Triskelion, a Celtic Pagan symbol

An image of a Celtic cross

A Druid symbol representing stone megaliths.

The Green Man, the consort of the Triple Goddess.

The Enneagram -- a New Age symbol

The Tree of Life from the Kabala.

A larger symbol can be seen online. 7

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.